


Glowing Up: The Pirate and The Princess

by TippenFunkaport



Series: SPOP Missing Scenes [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Battle, Childhood, Childhood Friends, Cute, F/M, Fear, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Glimbow Centric, Kids, Origin Story, Pre-Canon, Prequel, Rebellion, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26264311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TippenFunkaport/pseuds/TippenFunkaport
Summary: Bow's sick of his family treating him like a baby when he's nearly seven years old, practically a grown-up! When his older brother takes him for his first trip to the market, just getting to leave The Library seems like a big enough adventure. But soon he's caught between the rebellion and the Horde and discovers the Whispering Woods may be guiding him to exactly where he's supposed to be.(I know it's a faux pas to tag both / and & and obviously nothing romantic happens here because they are kids but I also know no one will find this otherwise)
Relationships: Angella & Bow (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: SPOP Missing Scenes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877965
Comments: 55
Kudos: 64
Collections: Glimbow Week 2020, SPOP Palentines (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)





	1. The Market

“Pick up the pace, Bow. We’re never going to get there if you stop to look at every cool plant.” Dirk said as he put a hand on Bow’s shoulder. “It’s the Whispering Woods. Every plant is cool.”

But Bow had never seen this kind of fern before, all purple and bumpy! Could he take a sample without hurting the plant? He was just going to ask his brother if he knew what it was called when he realized Dirk had already started walking away.

“Hey, wait up!” Dirk didn’t even walk that fast, but he was so much bigger one of his steps took like three of Bows and he had to run to catch up.

“Come on, bud. I’m doing you a favor here. I won’t bring you next time if I gotta spend the whole time babysitting you.”

Babysitting? He was almost seven years old! That was practically a grown-up! But he didn’t say anything because at least Drik had agreed to let him tag along this time, which was much better than sitting around at home doing nothing.

Dirk may be older than he was — like way way George and Lance kept telling him it was almost time to move out and get a job OLD — but at least he didn’t ignore him like the rest of their brothers and sisters. It didn’t matter how big he got, they all still treated him like a baby. Bow had slipped behind Dirk’s big stride and had to jog to catch up again.

They were approaching something that looked like a town, and Bow figured they’d reached the market. Then he noticed the guards on either side of the gate. Their blasters were almost as tall as him. Their heads turned as he and Drik passed, tracking them. There was a red symbol on the front of their armor, kind of like a bat.

Was that The Horde? Their helmets made them look like monsters. He wasn’t scared, obviously, because he was way too big for that. He pressed a little closer to his big brother’s side.

Dirk kept his eyes on the path ahead of them. “There’s nothing to be scared of. Remember what George always says? The Horde doesn’t bother folks that don’t bother them. We’re just walking by, minding our own business. Whatever they’re doing has nothing to do with us.”

The Horde is bad. But so is the rebellion. That’s what their dad, George, always said. It’s better to stay clear of both of them, stay out of trouble, let them all kill each other while the rest of us carry on with living. Their other dad, Lance, usually cut the rant off somewhere around there, but Bow had heard it enough times that he knew it by heart. They all did.

But The Horde they talked about at the dinner table felt different from those metal suits and big blasters. The Horde never came far into the Whispering Woods, but the market they went to was near the very edge of the forest. Close enough for them to risk it, apparently.

Bow tried to copy his brother, keep his eyes ahead, but he couldn’t help looking back when he heard a shout. He watched as one guard grabbed a goat man around his dads’ age and pulled him roughly off his feet. The man made a choking sound as the Horde solider pulled the neck of his shirt tight around his throat.

“Where is the rebel? We tracked them here. We know they’re close.” The voice was a growl. Maybe they really were monsters under there. “Spill it, old man, or we torch the place!”

“I-I don’t know anything! We’re good folks here! I swear, we’ve got nothing to do with the rebellion!” The man sounded really scared. Another man approached and Bow thought maybe he was going to help the first guy but, when he saw what was happening, he just ran in the other direction. Wasn’t anybody going to do something?

“Dirk...” Bow slowed.

“Stop staring. That’s got nothing to do with us.”

“But the man—“

“Look, if he’s hiding somebody from the rebellion, that’s on him. Shouldn’t have gotten involved. We’re staying out of it.” Dirk sounded firm, but Bow noticed his eyes kept sliding over to where the man was pleading with the Horde soldiers. He wondered for the first time if Dirk really believed all that stuff their dads said or if he was just repeating it out of habit. “Just keep walking. We don’t want any trouble.”

Bow forced himself to look away. He didn’t even look back when he heard the man scream.

“It’s not our fight, you understand?” Dirk sighed and put a hand on Bow’s back. “You’ll get it when you’re older.”

Bow nodded. He was glad that Dirk didn’t take his hand off his back the rest of the way. Even if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have dared fall behind again.

It only took them another few minutes to get where they were going. The market was like another world from the village where they’d seen the Horde. Everything was a bustle of sound and smells. Bow wanted to look at everything, but Dirk knew exactly where he was going.

“We get everything on the list first, then you can explore. Otherwise everything’s all picked over and I have to hear about forever if I can’t get everybody’s favorites. This way.”

Dirk’s hand was still on his back, which would have annoyed him normally — he wasn’t some baby that needed to be herded around — but there were so many people packed together here he was glad he didn’t have to worry about them getting separated.

They made their way through the market and their list. Dirk kept up a running commentary the whole way about how to pick the best peppers or how to tell which spice bag had a little extra, but Bow was only half listening. There was so much to look at, so many people and scents and cool things to look at. If their dads let them leave the library at all, it was usually just to visit some other place that was old and boring and filled with books or dust or both. This was more than he usually got to see in months, and it was all at once. It should have been overwhelming, but it was like a sugar rush.

Dirk was explaining how the sound of the melons when you tapped them told you how sweet it would be, but Bow couldn’t take his eyes off the stand next to them, all gadgets and circuitry. The woman at the stand was showing a customer what looked like a stone tablet, but the pictures on it were moving. Huh. How did that work?

Dirk had a melon up to his ear like it was telling him a secret, and Bow took a few steps closer for a better look. There was a collection of tiny mechanical toys on the table. He touched one that looked like a small bud and jumped when it snapped open, a cloth flower bursting out of it, purple silk petals unfolding one by one. He picked it up for a closer look, turning it upside down, the petals flopping over. He was twisting it back and forth, watching the slips of material slide in and out of the base when he realized someone was watching him. The shopkeeper was looming over him, all muscles and curled horns on top of her head.

He put the toy back automatically and took a step back. Dirk had told him about this on the way over. He wasn’t supposed to touch anything. If he’d broken it... but to his surprise, the lady smiled.

“You worked it out yet?”

Bow grinned and picked the bud back up. “You touch it here and the pressure activates the catch. Then the spring makes it spin... which pushes out the petals. Right?”

The woman laughed. “You got it. You got a sharp mind for this kind of stuff. You do any tinkering yourself?”

“Not... really.” There was the clock he’d taken apart, but his dads weren’t exactly happy about that as it was apparently pretty old. But for the few days before they’d realized, it had been cool to play with all the gears and springs and try to figure out how it all worked together.

“How does that work?” He pointed at the tablet thing. The lady looked ready to explain it to him, but someone grabbed his shoulder. He spun around to see Dirk, not particularly happy with him.

“What did I say about wandering off?”

“I was only—”

Dirk wasn’t even pretending to listen. “I hope this little guy didn’t cause any trouble, ma’am.”

“Nah. No trouble at all.”

Bow’s shoulder slumped as Dirk guided him away from the stand. Little guy! Like he was some wayward toddler? But when he looked back, the lady from the stand winked at him and that cheered him up a little.

“Hello? Anyone here?” Dirk called.

They’d stopped at a stand filled with baked goods, pastries and breads. A girl not much older than Dirk came out from the curtained part that marked the back of the stall in a flour stained maroon apron.

Dirk cleared his throat. “Oh, uh, hey. Hi. Where’s the old lady?”

“My mom threw out her back trying to carry too many bags of flour at once. So it’s just me today.” The girl tucked a pale green curl behind her ear, covering it in flour. “But I can fill your order for you. Name?”

“Oh, it’s Dirk?”

Was he asking? Bow glanced up at his brother. He seemed kind of weird all of a sudden. Dirk handed over part of their list and the girl looked it over.

“Well, hello, Dirk. And... here you go.” She handed them two large bags of bread. “Expecting a crowd?”

Dirk laughed. “We’re always a crowd. I’m the oldest of thirteen.”

The girl laughed. “And I thought I had it bad being an only!” She looked over the list at Bow and smiled. “And which one of the thirteen are you?”

“Thirteen.”

“Well, that face says it all, doesn’t it?” The girl laughed again, big and bold. Bow couldn’t help but smile.

Dirk was putting the bags in the bag on Bow’s back. “This is the lightest thing we’re getting today so you should be able to handle it. Just don’t crush them, OK?”

Bow narrowed his brows at Dirk while he counted out the credits for their order. Nobody had any faith in him.

“And how old are you, number thirteen?” The girl in the apron was asking him.

“I am six and three quarters, ma’am. Thank you kindly for asking.”

Dirk snort laughed. “Yeah, he’s at the age where he’s worked out that as long as he’s polite and cute, everybody loves him.”

“Well, he’s not wrong!” She winked at Bow and handed him a cookie shaped like a tiny heart over the table. It was pretty good, way sweeter than anything they ever made at home. “Hey, Dirk, you’re tall. While you’re here, you mind helping me with a couple of boxes? My mom packed them way too high and I don’t know how I can get them down without them toppling all over me.”

“I’d love to. I mean, no problem.”

What was with him right now? Bow’d never seen his brother act so goofy. Dirk made his way around the edge of the stand. He paused with his hand on the curtain and pointed at Bow. “Don’t touch anything, don’t wander off, don’t move from that spot no matter what, OK? I’ll be right back.”

“Fine.” Sheesh. It wasn’t like he couldn’t follow directions. He leaned against the table, determined not to move even a single inch just to show Dirk.

It was a busy day at the market and it was kind of fun to watch the steady stream of people moving past. There were races he’d never even seen before. Everyone seemed happy and relaxed, the air full of smiles and laughter of a nice spring day.

Except for that person, the one in the cloak. They emerged from between two stands, ducking into the crowd. They glanced behind them and he caught a quick glimpse of spotted fur before they tugged their hood down over their face again. He lost sight of them as they ducked behind the stand with all the cool gadgets. Were they looking for something? Or was someone looking for them?

Bow was just starting to wonder what that was all about when everything exploded.


	2. The Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lured you in with cute little Bow but we're at war, sorry, this next section has DRAMA.

The sound was deafening. A sonic blast of red light cutting through the crowd with heat, exploding everything in its path. It blew Bow off his feet, slamming him backwards into the stall, flipped the table over on its side. 

Suddenly everything was colors and smoke and screaming as people crushed all around him. What was happening? What should he do? He couldn’t see anything but legs as people ran around him, the air thick with fear and burning. 

The tide of people kept pushing against him, knocking him back. He was trapped! He took shelter between the legs of the toppled table and tried to think. 

He needed to find his brother. Right now. He fought against the urge to freeze and pulled himself shakily upright. Even standing he wasn’t tall enough to make out more than bodies, scared and fleeing, slamming into each other in the chaos. 

He coughed, his eyes stinging. Something was on fire. Multiple somethings. Dark sour smoke filled the air and gave everything a feeling like it was all a bad dream. 

He needed to move. It was getting hard to breathe here. He was just about to make a break for it through the mass of people when there was a grating sound, metal on metal. The crowd parted for a moment and he saw it, rising above the tide of bodies.

Now it made sense why everyone was running. 

Was that... a tank? He’d never seen one outside of George’s books about the old war, but the blaster on the front looked way bigger than anything he’d seen in old pictures. But there was no mistaking the emblem painted on the hood or the helmets on the soldiers. 

But that didn’t make sense! They hadn’t bothered them! They hadn’t done anything wrong! Why would the Horde be doing this? 

The tank was grinding forward, crushing stands and people under its massive treads. The crowd scattered ahead of it, the metal monster looming closer. The barrel on the blaster was an angry dark rectangle that had glowed red at the edges. 

Oh, no. It was going to fire again. And he was right in its path.

Move! He jumped over the legs of the table and joined the crush of people trying to get out of the way of the blast. But there was nowhere to go. Stalls were burning on either side, blocking every way but straight forward with the mob. Someone knocked into him from behind and Bow fell.

He had to get up, but every time the crowd forced him back down. Feet pounded around him, something slammed hard into his side, thick boot treads stomped down on his leg. He flung his arms over his head, trying to protect himself. 

He was going to die. Even if the blaster didn’t get him, he’d be crushed to death. 

He wanted his brother. He wanted his dads. He never should have left home, should have just stayed in the library where it was safe!

There was a weird sound behind him, an electric buzz. The tank! It was going to fire! 

No! He flattened against the ground, but instead found himself yanked up by the straps of his bag. The blaster cut through the crowd, hot red light, and he felt the heat of it against the side of his face… but it hadn’t hit him! 

Whoever had grabbed him slung him over their shoulder and all he saw was the forest floor sweeping by as they ran from the smell of smoke and battle. By the time he registered that the person carrying him was definitely not his brother, they’d unceremoniously dumped him on the ground. He scrambled to his feet, a disorganized process since he was still lightheaded from being carried upside down, and got ready to run again as soon as his feet hit the ground. 

“Hold on, kid.” Someone grabbed his bag again, the person who’d carried him out. The lady with the horns from the tech stand. “You don’t want to go back there.”

“But my brother—” How far away had she taken him? They were somewhere in the Whispering Woods. He could still hear the screams and another scorching blast, but it sounded much farther away. But even from here, the smoke was still thick and acrid, as if the whole woods were on fire. 

“The best thing you can do for your brother is—” She whipped around. There was suddenly a long stick in her hand and she held it up, ready to fight. “Who’s there?”

“Just me.” It was the cloaked figure from the market. Their voice was a low bark. The woman lowered her staff. “Did you get the plans?”

“Yes. But they got Zank.”

“So they know.” The woman swore, one Bow hadn’t even heard before, even with all those older siblings. “They’ll destroy everything.”

“We need to signal Bright Moon.” The hooded figure said. Bow could hardly make out the figure’s face under the cloak, but when they spoke, there were a lot of very sharp teeth in that long muzzle. 

The woman nodded. She reached into her jacket and took out something that looked not much bigger than an apple. Bow noticed the ridges on the side, gears like the toys at the market. The woman pressed something on the side and tossed the object up into the air. The mechanism activated and a small propeller took it higher and higher until it exploded, shooting bright lines of light in every direction. 

Where had they said they were signaling? 

Bright Moon?

Bow gasped. “You’re with the rebellion?”

The cloaked figure looked at him for the first time and seemed ready to lunge at him, but the woman held out an arm. “Leave him. He’s just a kid. We’ve got to go back, see who else we can get out.” The cloaked figure growled in Bow’s direction but did as the woman said, running back towards the smoke. 

“You’re... with the rebellion.” Bow said again, stupidly, but he was trying to wrap his head around it. He’d liked this woman, liked her gadgets and the way she seemed to want him to understand how they worked. And she’d saved him back there, hadn’t she? But she was with the rebellion? He took a step away from her. She narrowed her eyes at him and then fixed him with a finger like Dirk had done before.

“You’re not with the rebellion these days, you’re an idiot with your head in the sand.” Bow wanted to tell her she was wrong, that she couldn’t talk about his family like that, but she never gave him a chance. “If I see your brother, I’ll make sure he knows where you are. Just stay here, kid. I’ll come back for you.” 

She left then, disappearing after the person in the cloak. Bow watched her until he was sure she was gone. Then he started running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. 

No wonder the Horde had attacked the market! His dads were right! The rebellion was always starting trouble and now look at what they’d done! All those people, just trying to live their lives, and now? He wouldn’t be there when they got back, that was for sure. 

He’d go home, tell his dads. They would know what to do. An old woman called after him, but he didn’t even slow. He couldn’t trust anyone. Nobody but his own family. 

What if something had happened to Dirk? What if he never saw him again? Tears pooled in his eyes and he pushed himself to run faster. 

The colors of the Whispering Woods blurred together and nothing looked familiar, but he was afraid to stop, not sure which side he was more afraid of. When he finally had to slow, his chest aching from running so hard, he looked around and his blood froze as he realized he had absolutely no idea where he was. There was no path, no familiar landmarks, nothing but twisted shadows and branches that grabbed at his shirt.

He finally fell to the forest floor, his tears falling freely now. He was absolutely, definitely lost. And completely alone. He had no idea how to get home or how to get back to Dirk. 

He held his head in his hands and tried to think big kid brave thoughts, but it was impossible. Everyone was right, he was just a little kid; he didn’t know how to do anything and he was going to die all alone out here. 

And, worst of all, he was pretty sure he’d crushed the bread.

When he’d finally cried himself out, he lay on the ground, feeling hopeless and listening to the sounds of the Whispering Woods. The Library where they lived was in the woods and he was used to playing with the others among the strange plants and falling asleep to the sounds of the gentle whispers of the trees, but this was the first time he’d been so utterly alone with it before. 

There was a weird feeling this deep in the woods. The forest always felt alive, but this was the first time everything felt like it was breathing around him, watching him. He got to his feet, moving his fingers through a cloud of something he could feel but not see. It prickled up his arms like invisible goosebumps. Whatever it was, the air was thick with it. 

What was this? Was it… magic? He didn’t really know that much about magic other than the princesses could use it, so that was probably bad... but this didn’t feel bad. 

He’d heard his siblings say the woods moved around. That was why the rebellion used it for their hideout. It hid them, confused the Horde, kept them out. He’d always thought they were messing with him, making up ghost stories, but as he looked around him now, he wasn’t so sure. 

He saw one of those bumpy purple ferns, the one he’d seen with Dirk what felt like a lifetime ago. He kneeled down and touched the leaf again, just to feel something familiar.

If the Woods could move around, did that mean it was alive? Could it hear him?

“I-I need help.” He whispered, not sure what he was talking to but looking at the little fern in his hand because it felt less ridiculous than talking to the open air. “I’m lost and... I’m scared. Really scared.” He wasn’t sure if the Woods valued honesty, but it didn’t seem right to lie to magic, especially if you were trying to ask it for help. “Can you… help me get where I need to be?” 

He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d expected to happen. A big poof of magic and then he’d find himself home or something right out of a fairy tale? But nothing happened. OK, maybe it had been silly. But when he stood back up, there was a small path he hadn’t noticed before. 

Maybe it had been there all along. Or maybe it didn’t lead anywhere he wanted to go. 

But when you’re six years old and lost and scared and basically having the worst day of your life, believing in magic seemed like as good an idea as any. 

He walked to the edge of the path, peering through the trees. 

There was clearly some kind of building at the end. A really big building. It could be an empty ruin, like the kind his dads were always studying. 

Bow hesitated, but he didn’t have any other plan. And there was something about this that felt just enough like an adventure that he forgot for a minute to be scared. He started tentatively down the path. 

This place couldn’t be a ruin. It was way too fancy, nothing broken or tarnished with age. The path let out opposite a golden window, inset in a teardrop shape. He stopped to stare at it. It was elegant, gold filigree all around it. He felt weirdly drawn to it, like he could just climb right up into it if he could only figure out how.

A path of circular stones led around the edge of the forest, and he followed them. This wasn’t just one building but many of them, all connected through a series of bridges and paths. What was this place? There were gardens everywhere and weird stone islands floating ahead and impossible waterfalls. 

It was like the whole place was magic. And he knew it should scare him, but it didn’t. He loved it. 

He was trying to decide which of the buildings he should try first when he heard someone shout.

“Halt! Who goes there?”


	3. The Queen

Bow had played a million games with his siblings where they got captured by guards, but in all those times he’d never realized how it was actually terrible? And not even a little fun? Why had they wanted to play this?

They’d taken his bag, and now he wasn’t even going to even have the squashed bread. Dirk was going to be so mad at him. If he ever even got to see Dirk ever again.

His legs shook underneath him as the giant knight ladies forced him forward. They were way too big, with cloaks and helmets that went all the way up and those big pointy spear things. He’d never been more scared in his entire life than he was as they shoved him into a large room in the main part of this place that he was now pretty sure was either a castle or fortress. Huge archways loomed over him. They were probably going to tie him up and lock him in some dungeon where he would never see the sun again. He probably shouldn’t have tried to run, but what was he supposed to do when huge metal people started chasing him? And ever since one had clamped her hand down on his shoulder, he’d barely been able to breathe, let alone think of a way out.

The room was super fancy, crystals, lights and gold everywhere. At least the last thing he’d ever see was pretty. One guard stepped away and the other one dug her fingers even deeper into his shoulder, daring him to make a break for it. His legs wouldn’t have listened to him even if he knew of a place to run to.

The other guard was back now, beckoning them forward.

“Prisoner coming forward for sentencing.” She barked and shoved him forward. Everyone in the room turned to stare at him. Bow kept his eyes on the polished floor, which just reflected his own terrified face back to him, until the guard yanked him to a stop.

He looked up despite himself, but there was only a small hovering step. Then he looked up higher than that and he was truly panicked because... was he dead? Had he died in that explosion and he didn’t even realize it? Or somehow stumbled into the temple of an actual goddess?

There was no doubt in his mind that the lady in front of him was an angel, like the kind painted all over plenty of murals and pottery in his dads’ collection. She didn’t look like any normal person he’d ever seen in his life, even without the giant pink wings tucked behind her. Her hair was a long pale pink like a wild rose and her skin gleamed like polished stone.

The guard was pushing down on his shoulder, hard. He could barely think for the blood rushing in his ears. Now he was probably going to get smited! Smote? Smitten? He’d be dead either way!

“Show some respect!” the guard hissed. He had no idea what that meant so he just stood there frozen until she jabbed the back of his leg with the base of her spear and he fell forward. He slammed painfully down onto his knees and the guard held him there. Why hadn’t they just said they wanted him to bow? A bead of sweat was sliding down his face, but he couldn’t do anything but look at the floor.

“What is the meaning of this? This is a child.” The angel / goddess lady said.

“Your majesty, we know the Horde trains child soldiers. Multiple witnesses saw him fleeing market that was attacked today.” The guard grabbed at the edge of Bow’s shirt and tugged roughly at it. “You can smell the smoke on his clothes yourself. Mostly likely, he—”

“Alright, that’s quite enough. You are dismissed. You are all dismissed. I want everyone out but those at their posts.”

“But your majesty — “

“Did I not make myself clear? Out!” Her wings flung out to the sides to punctuate her shout, and the guard took a step backwards.

“At once, Queen Angella.” The guard let go of his shoulder and it still stung from the pressure but he didn’t dare move, couldn’t do anything but stare frozen at the floor, even as he heard low voices and footsteps moving around him.

Did everyone go? Was he alone? The room was suddenly very silent. Was that because they were going to cut off his head and they didn’t want anyone to see all the blood? Purple boots appear on the step directly in front of him and he swallowed.

“You may get up now.” Bow very slowly lifted his head. The angel lady, who he guessed must be the Queen from what the guards said, was standing over him. She moved towards him, and he winced. He squeezed his eyes shut. “It’s alright. I apologize for the rather rude welcome my guards gave you. I will not let anyone hurt you.”

Her voice was soft and her accent made everything she said sound pleasant. He cautiously opened one eye and then the other. To his surprise, the Queen sat on the bottommost step, her face level with his. She smelled nice, like the special soap his dads kept for company.

“On your feet, now, that’s it.” Bow scrambled back to his feet, his legs shaking. She was smiling at him and it was a friendly smile, but he still could barely breathe. “Now, what is your name?”

It took him several chances to get the word out. “Bow.”

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Bow.” She held out her hand. Was he supposed to kiss it? Shake it? High five? None of those seemed very queenly. He stared at it for a minute and then cautiously saluted. She laughed and linked her hands in her lap. “My name is Angella, and I’d like to help you out. Do you think you can tell me how you ended up here today?”

Maybe it was because her voice was so soft and nice, like his dads’ after he had a bad dream. Maybe it was because so many terrible things had happened in a row and this was finally someone sitting down and offering to help him. Or maybe it was just because he’d reached the limit of what a six and three quarter year old was supposed to deal with in a single day. He burst into tears, sobbing like he hadn’t since he was a toddler.

And to his complete surprise, she wrapped her arms around him and they were soft and warm and that only made him cry harder. He was probably getting a lot of snot and tears all over her fancy cloak, but she didn’t seem to mind and he couldn’t do anything to stop the endless waves of hiccuping sobs that kept rolling out of him. And all the while, the Queen rubbed his back and shushed him gently until he finally composed himself enough to talk. He’d never particularly felt the need for a mom before, but in that moment, he could see the appeal.

He told her everything. About the Horde and the old man and the market and the stand with the little mechanical toys and the lady who gave him a cookie and the explosion and the running and even about asking the woods to help him. He almost didn’t tell her that last part because it seemed kind of silly now that he said it out loud, but for some reason he trusted her and it felt important to explain why he was even here.

Once he’d finished his story, Queen Angella regarded him for so long that he thought he’d said something wrong and almost started crying again. Then she seemed to decide something and nodded. She gave him a gentle squeeze on the arm before rising to her feet.

“You have had quite a day, young man. And I will do everything in my power to get you back to your brother and your family.” Queen Angella put a hand on his shoulder. She gestured behind him and he turned to see there were still guards there. They were just stationed around the edge of the large room, which looked a whole lot bigger now that there was no one in it. One of the guards came over—Bow couldn’t tell if it was the same guard who’d caught him before or a different one, they all looked the same—and the Queen said something softly to her. The guard nodded and left the room.

“I have sent someone to find your brother. I’m afraid the situation at the edge of the wood is not safe enough for me to send you back there just yet. Until then, all we can do is wait.” A curl had flopped in front of his face and she tucked it back behind his ear just like his dads would have done. Bow smiled for the first time since the market, and she smiled back. “Come, let’s get you cleaned up.”


	4. The Princess

The bathrooms in this place were nicer than anything in Bow’s entire house, and by the time he’d washed off his face, he was already starting to feel much better. There was a nice grown-up in charge of the situation now and that already made it a 100 times less stressful. He wasn’t dead, nobody had thrown him into a cell, someone was working on getting him back to his family, and Queen Angella had even promised him she’d get him some new bread from the kitchens to replace the squashed rolls.

In fact, now that it seemed like things were going to work out, he was actually starting to enjoy this little adventure.

He got to meet a Queen, some kind of special angel queen in a magic castle. It was like something out of a book! And this place was amazing. He could spend the rest of his life exploring it and never get bored. Wait until he told the rest of his family, they’d all be so jealous.

He couldn’t believe his dads never told him about any of this. Maybe they didn’t even know there was a cool castle with a nice angel queen right through the Whispering Woods. Wouldn’t that be neat, to get to be the one to surprise them with something for a change?

Queen Angella had Queen business to do, so she’d told him he could play in the garden while they waited for news of his brother. There were guards out here watching him everywhere he went and giving him a look that was not exactly friendly, but as long as they didn’t come near him, he didn’t mind. The garden itself was beautiful, but the coolest part was that the whole thing was on a balcony. He leaned against the edge and took in the view. There were tiny floating islands up above and the sea stretching all the way to the end of the sky. He’d never seen the real ocean before, and for a while he just stared at it and watched the sun glint off the waves.

Then all he could think of was that this must be what it’s like to be a pirate, up on the deck of your ship, looking out over the sea. And then he was a pirate, and he was going to get his ship back from these mean guards who’d stolen it from him at the port where he’d stopped to restock because they didn’t understand that he was a good pirate and he only stole from bad people who deserved it. He found a stick to be a sword and was sneaking his way past barrels (flowers) and carefully stepping over curls of rope (more flowers) and was just executing a cool roll to sneak across to the Captain’s cabin where he kept his trusty musket when he realized he wasn’t alone.

There was a little girl, probably about his age, sitting behind one of the small shrubs. She was wearing a frilly purple dress which was completely covered in dirt and drawing on the ground in front of her with a small stick.

“Who are you?” She looked as surprised to see him there as he was to see her.

“Bow.” He came a little closer. “What are you drawing?”

“Battle plans,” she said matter-of-factly, going back to the lines and crosses that she’d sketched all over the patch of mud where she’d settled herself. She doodled a stick figure getting his head blown off. “Well? Sit down or something or they’re going to figure out I’m back here.”

Ah, so she was playing something too. Cool. He never really got to play with anyone his own age. It was usually just his siblings, and they were all older than him. He found a slightly cleaner patch of ground and sat down next to her. “Who are you planning to battle?”

“The Horde.” That tangled mess of hair that hung down past her shoulders was pink and sparkly up close. That was kinda cool. He’d never seen anyone with hair like that before.

“The Horde doesn’t bother you unless you bother them.” He’d said it automatically, out of habit, but immediately regretted it. Not just because of the way she whipped her head around to glare at him, but because the memory of why he was even here right now came rising back up in a flash of fear from where he’d nearly forgotten it. He hugged his knees to his chest. “I mean. That’s what I’ve heard.”

“Yeah, well, they killed my dad. And I want to make them pay.” She went back to drawing in the mud, pushing so hard that her stick snapped in half. She held it up and made a frustrated little growl before throwing it away.

“I’m sorry. About your dad.” He handed her his stick. She went back to tracing lines. When it seemed like she wasn’t going to say anything else, he added, “Hey, you never told me your name.”

She looked up at him, her eyes narrow. Did he say something wrong?

“It’s Glimmer.”

“That’s a nice name,” he said, because she was looking at him like she expected some kind of reply. She furrowed her brows a little more at him.

“I’m the princess?”

“Cool! I’m a pirate. Wanna play?”

She stared at him for so long he was going to retract the offer, but then she shrugged, dusted off her skirt and rose to her feet. “OK.”

Turned out, Glimmer was a lot of fun to play with, way more fun than his siblings were, anyway. He let her in on the plan to steal his pirate ship back from the guards. She added that the guards were Horde soldiers who’d captured her, but she escaped. She promised to help him steal his ship back if he agreed to join the rebellion. And while Bow wasn’t sure his dads would be super keen on him playing Horde and rebellion, he didn’t say anything because Glimmer was really excited and when she got excited her eyes got all twinkly. He liked that.

They snuck around for a while, but they were giggling too much to be properly stealthy and a guard spotted them. She looked surprised to see Glimmer. She started towards them and Bow tensed, remembering his last interaction with the guards, but Glimmer only giggled.

“Oh, no, they’ve spotted us, we better run!”

She took his hand, and they raced around the garden, Glimmer laughing so hard Bow couldn’t help but laugh too. The guard followed and then seemed to decide it wasn’t worth it. She went back to her post, keeping them in sights but otherwise letting them play.

Then their ship was boarded by sea zombies, which Bow wasn’t entirely convinced was a thing, but he was willing to go with it. They had an epic battle, and he sword fought a hundred zombies at once and Glimmer made them blow up with her princess magic, which was mostly just her throwing handfuls of grass in the air while making cool explosion sounds. Princess was another thing they never played at home, but he was going to change that because it was a lot of fun.

He had no idea how long they’d been playing when he noticed Queen Angella watching them from the archway, a small smile on her face. She called over to him.

“Bow?”

He turned to Glimmer, but she’d already run over to the Queen. Bow started over to join them, but he was dragging his feet. As much as he wanted to get back to his family, they’d been having a lot of fun! He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Glimmer yet. Maybe she was thinking the same because she was facing the Queen with her arms on her hips, looking simultaneously cute and absolutely terrifying. He was sure glad he wasn’t on the other end of that look.

“...and I’m certainly not happy you gave them the slip again. And my goodness, you’re a mess!” Queen Angella reached down and tucked a strand of Glimmer’s pink hair behind her ear, just like she’d done to Bow. It was nice to know she was that nice to every random kid she met. She smiled when she noticed Bow. “But I am glad you made a friend.”

“Can I play with Bow again another day?”

Could she? If he could come back, it wouldn’t make leaving so sad.

“I don’t see why not. Bow is welcome to come here whenever he wishes.” Angella looked between them and grinned. Glimmer beamed at him, her eyes twinkling. “Now, young lady, you need to go clean yourself up.”

Glimmer growled but trudged back into the castle. She was probably headed to that same bathroom he’d cleaned up in before. He really wished he’d asked her how she’d ended up here today. Maybe she’d been at the market too! For all he knew, they were both running around the woods today.

Hey! What if the woods had sent them both here specifically so they could meet! The thought made him feel all warm inside.

“Bye, Bow! See you later!” Glimmer called behind her as she disappeared into the main building.

“Bye, Glimmer!”

Angella watched Glimmer go and then turned to Bow. “Well, I’m pleased to say we’ve found your brother, and he’s waiting for you down by the road. I’ve arranged transport to get the two of you back home.” She put a hand on his back and handed him back his bag. He opened it and was pleased to see nice fresh unsquashed bread. Whew. “And I meant what I said earlier. You are welcome back here anytime.”

Bow smiled up at her. Wait until his dads found out he’d made friends with a Queen! He couldn’t wait to bring them all back here, show them everything. He was kind of falling in love with this place.

“Will Glimmer be here?” He asked. She was a big part of the appeal. Queen Angella laughed.

“She should be, yes.”

Bow bounced on his feet as they took him through some kind of camp. Through the crush of people milling around, he saw Dirk standing at the end of the long line of purple tents, pacing. His brother’s face immediately broke into a relieved smile when he saw him. Bow ran and jumped into his arms. Dirk laughed and pulled him into a headlock, which Bow struggled against but couldn’t get out of until Dirk had knuckled his curls.

“You have any idea how worried I was about you, kid? Come on, let’s get home. George and Lance will be freaking out, we were supposed to be back hours ago.”

They climbed into the back of the small transport.

“Where I am taking you?” the driver asked.

Dirk chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Uh, I’ll give you directions as we go.”

As they started moving, Dirk told Bow about how the girl from the bakery, Sugar, had saved his life when the awning of her stand caught fire and nearly fallen on them. Then Dirk had managed to flip her wagon over and give them a safe hiding spot while the Horde ransacked the place. He’d spent hours under there with her until the rebellion and the Horde had finished killing each other.

Luckily the woman from the tech stand had found him then and let him know Bow was safe, though Dirk hadn’t been too pleased when they’d returned to where she’d left him only to find him gone. Luckily, whoever Angella had sent knew the tech lady and shortly after that he was on his way here to get him. It sounded like they’d both had an adventure today!

They were getting close to The Library and Bow was struggling to stay awake against the rhythmic motion of the transport.

“Oh, hey, uh, you can just drop us off here.” Dirk’s voice startled him awake.

“You sure?” the driver asked. “There’s nothing around here.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. We’ll walk from here.” Dirk said. He grabbed his parcels and pulled Bow out of the car. “Thanks for the ride!”

“But why—“ Bow began, but Dirk shushed him. They watched the transport pull out of sight. “But we’re still a mile or more from home!” He was tired!

“You think our dads would appreciate us bringing a rebellion transport right to their door?”

“But that transport wasn’t from the rebellion, it was from Queen Angella!”

How could Dirk think that wonderful lady had anything to do with the rebellion of George’s stories?

“Queen Angella? The literal leader of the rebellion? Come on, Bow. I don’t know how the heck you even found yourself all the way out there, but one thing is for sure. We are not telling George or Lance about any of this, got it? We’re not telling them about not the Horde or the rebellion. And we’re absolutely not telling them you somehow ended up in Bright Moon, of all places.”

Bow didn’t know what to say. Queen Angella was part of the rebellion? The leader, even? But the rebellion was supposed to be as bad as the Horde and the Queen had been so nice! And the rebellion had been the ones to find Dirk and give them a ride and new bread and everything. He had this unsettled feeling as they walked, like he’d been in danger and hadn’t even realized. George and Lance would be mad if they knew he’d been hanging out with the rebellion all day, but still...

“I thought they said we should never lie to them? Isn’t this lying?”

Dirk sighed and stopped walking. He rubbed his forehead and looked at Bow for a long moment before answering.

“Our dads... you know how they get. Sometimes you gotta just tell them what they want to hear, you know? Because the truth… it would just get them upset. They’d worry and stress and they’d never let us go out like this again. It’s… it’s complicated. So sometimes you gotta tell them... maybe not the whole truth. To protect them. You understand?”

“I guess.” He didn’t like it, but it made a kind of sense. And Dirk was a lot older than him and if he said it was the right thing to do, then it must be. They were nearly to the door of the library when Bow stopped.

“Hey, wait! I made a friend today. At Bright Moon. And I promised I come back and play with her another day.”

“Back to Bright Moon?” Dirk sighed. “I’m sorry, bud, but that’s not going to happen.”

“But my friend...”

“Look, Bow, I’m sorry. I really am. But you just need to face facts. You’re never going to see the girl again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then he never saw her again... oh wait, just kidding. ;-)
> 
> Because there is a bit of a time skip before the next chapter, they'll be a temporary hiatus from new updates for a few weeks while I get some of my other fics up. But there is a lot more of this to come in the future, don't worry! 
> 
> In the meantime, while there is a continuous story I will continue to tell in this fic that spans many years, I'll also be posting more episodic content from their friendship pre-canon as well so you may want to subscribe both to this fic specifically and to the whole Glowing Up series here https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908214 so you don't miss anything. 


	5. A Fluke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am helping run a month-long fandom event called SPOP Palentines and you can read all about it and see the other fun works being made on [https://spop-palentines.tumblr.com](https://spop-palentines.tumblr.com/). It’s been my focus the last few weeks (because I’m posting something for almost every day of it) and will be throughout the month. BUT, so I don’t leave everyone who reads my continuing fics hanging this month, I will use some of the prompts to add new chapters where I can. 
> 
> Like this! Today’s prompt was Childhood Friends and… while that is basically what this entire fic is about, I wanted to give us a dip into little Glimmer’s POV before we dove back into the main story.

"Glimmer." 

"Go away, Mom!" 

Queen Angella did not go away. She came in anyway because grown-ups are annoying and apparently Glimmer didn't even get a say in what happened in her OWN ROOM. Glimmer groaned and hid her face under a pillow. 

"General Sundar said Telzy is back from your playdate already. Did you have a good time?"

She dug her fingers into the pillow. "Yeah. It was great."

"You know I don't appreciate that sarcastic tone, young lady!" She could hear the annoyed expression on her mother's face from all the way under here. She flung the pillow off her face and faced her mother full on.

"Yeah, well, I don't appreciate you setting me up on playdates with... doodoo heads!" She really didn't want to be crying right now, she hated crying, especially in front of her mom but apparently her face didn't care about that. The tears had been coming all afternoon since she threw little miss perfect out of her room. 

"Now I understand why you have no friends," the girl had said before Glimmer slammed the door in her face. Glimmer kicked a footstool and wished it was Telzy’s stupid perky face. 

"So it went poorly then, I take it. Oh, Glimmer." Her mom sat next to her on the window sill and put an arm around her, her wing curled gently around the other side. Glimmer let herself lean in a little because even when she was mad at her, her mom was still her mom. "What are we going to do with you?"

Like she was some problem to solve. On second thought, Glimmer didn't want a hug. She squirmed free of her mom's arm and started pacing the room, kicking at the bits of clothes still on the floor from their disastrous attempt at playing dress-up. 

"What happened this time?" Her mother watched her from the window seat, her hands folded in her lap, the proper lady, patient and calm and everything Glimmer would never be ever. Not that she even wanted to be all boring like that! 

"Nothing." Certainly not her trying so hard AGAIN, even scrubbing her face and letting the nannies put her hair up and everything, wanting so badly for things to go right this time so finally... But, apparently, the rebellion kids were right and she was just annoying and bossy and nobody would ever like her ever.

"You must have done something! The General and Mally are lovely people. I've always found Telzy to be a perfectly well-behaved child." 

"Well then maybe you should make Telzy your daughter and leave me alone!" Her mother would love Telzy. She always remembered to say please and thank you. Her hair was always done up nice and her dresses stayed clean all day and she was sweet and nice like she was some freaky doll that had come to life. All the girl wanted to do was play princess, which she seemed to think was just trying on pretty dresses and tea parties. And it had been so BORING Glimmer had wanted to claw her own face off but she'd wanted the other girl to like her so BADLY just so maybe she could have somebody her age to play with for a change. But no matter what she did, Telzy huffed that she was “not doing it right.” 

She was the one who was an actual princess! Didn't that automatically make whatever way she did it the right way? 

"Well did you at least TRY to make friends with the girl? She likes games. Her mother said she is a wiz at Runestone Chase."

"I tried, mom. Okay?" Runestone chase was a disaster. Telzy kept letting her win. And when she called her on it, she said her mother told her she had to. Because the princess was "temperamental." Whatever that meant! Glimmer picked up a toy crown and throw it clear across the room just to hear it rattle across the polished floor. "I don't ever want to play with her again."

"Did something happen? Was she rude to you? Because if she was, I can order—"

Glimmer groaned. "She was fine. It was me, OK? I'm the problem. Are you happy?"

The last thing she needed was a repeat of the time when she was five and had snuck down to the rebellion camp to try to play with some of the kids there. She hadn't told anybody she was the princess and it worked out alright at first until that one big kid said she was annoying and she tried to hit him. She would have been able to take him, no matter what General Sundar told her mom, but one of the grown-ups stepped in and then her mom had found out and made them all apologize and now none of them would even look at her, let alone play with her. She’d never forget the looks of pure hate on their faces as long as she lived. 

"No, Glimmer, I am not happy. I want you to have someone your own age to play with and every time we find someone suitable... well, THIS happens."

Suitable. Whatever that meant. Sometimes Glimmer felt like she was the one who wasn’t suitable. 

She sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. There was one thing, one thing only, that made her think maybe she wasn't completely doomed to a life with no one but her nannies and tutors to talk to. "What about the boy that came to play that one time? Bow? Why can't he come over again?"

Her mother sighed. "You've asked me that every week for months and I don't have any more of an answer than I did the first time you asked. That he was here at all that day was… a fluke. Besides, the driver who took him home said they asked to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere. I haven't the slightest idea who he is or where he lives, let alone where to contact him. I’m sorry, Glimmer, but I think you need to start to accept that you are very unlikely to ever see that boy again." 

“It’s not fair!” Glimmer was crying again and this time she didn’t have the energy to wipe the tears. She just let them fall, big and fat and wet, dotting the shiny blue of what had been her favorite dress before it had become just another reminder of how she couldn’t do anything right. 

She felt her mother’s arms around her and she surrendered into the hug, the sharp smell of her mother’s perfume and the soft flutter of her wings encircling her back. Her mother gently rubbing her back as she sobbed into her jumper and whispered meaningless things about patience and giving it time that Glimmer knew was just grown-up talk meant to make her stop crying without any real meaning behind it. Apparently, she might as well just get used to being alone because she was just doomed to be friendless forever. 

Unless… there she lucked out and there was another one of those flukes. 

But what were the chances of that? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once I am done with this theme month, I’ll be free again to focus on this and my other multi-chapter fics so we’ll finally be able to power through to the end of those with some more consistency! Appreciate your patience in the meantime!


	6. Dirk's Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bow's oldest brother, Dirk, hasn't been speaking to him since the incident at the market months ago and Bow suspects he's up to something. And he wants in.

Bow adjusted his position, but the branch was still digging into his back. There was nothing comfortable about the way he was sitting but this was the only spot where he could hear the music coming from the second floor and still see the front door.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He’d still be able to see the front door from the overhang which was easy enough to scramble up onto. He’d be able to hear it better from there too, but then Kay could see him. His oldest sister had made it pretty clear that for as long as this visit lasted, if she caught him or any of the other younger kids so much as breathing near her room while she was practicing her lute, she would kill them. And the thing was, she probably only meant it in a general kick your butt kind of big sibling way… but you could never really be sure with Kay and Bow wasn’t taking any chances. She was… kind of terrifying. 

Besides, he was already flirting with danger enough today. There was the distinct sound of an explosion and a thin line of red smoke rose from behind the house. A second later, the back door slammed, and he heard George shout, “Boys! What did I tell you?” 

Bow shook his head as he heard his dad unloading on his brothers. He’d told them they were just going to get in trouble again, but nobody ever listened to “The Baby.” Like he wasn’t a whole seven and a quarter years old! It had been bad enough when it was just Dags and Boomer, but now they roped Trebber into their schemes too and there was nobody left for him to play with.

Just because he didn’t enjoy getting in trouble all the time, they left him out of everything. It wasn’t tattling if he was trying to protect them! Why couldn’t it be like it was when they were little? They used to play normal stuff that wasn’t dangerous and made their dads mad all the time! 

At least Jav didn’t mind if he hung around. Though she’d spent the last week buried in a dusty old book she’d found in the basement, muttering to herself in some dead language. On a rainy days, he’d go sit with her, sketching out plans for one of his projects just for the company, but it was too nice a day to be stuck inside reading anything that smelled that gross.

Everybody else was grown, already moved out, living their own lives. This was why he ended up alone most of the time. Well, everyone except… 

“Dirk!” Lance dashed out the door, his robe flying behind him. Bow grabbed his bag and shimmied down the tree as fast as he could. He’d been so busy listening to his idiot brothers getting grounded for life, he’d almost messed up the whole plan.

“Yeah, I know, dad. I promise, no hard digging without protective gear.” Dirk shifted his weight, clearly impatient to get going. He left for work this time every day, always in the same old work boots, the same dark blue work apron. They’d both be covered with rock dust when he came back from the evacuation site at the end of the day. 

At least, he said it was rock dust… but that probably wasn’t true either. 

Lance was still going. “And don’t forget to put up supports, no matter how stable the rocks look because, believe me…” 

“A cave in is a grave in,” Dirk finished with him. “I know, Pops! You’ve only told us a million times. I love you, but I really gotta get going.”

“Oh, alright. But you’re not too big to get away with leaving without giving your old man a goodbye hug, so get over here.” 

Hmm. Bow watched from behind the tree as Dirk sighed and gave their dad a hug goodbye. Well, it was now or never. He hadn’t planned on Lance being there for this, but maybe it might work out better this way. He took a deep breath and stepped out to where his oldest brother was just turning to leave. 

“I’ll be careful too!” Bow went over and wrapped his arms around Lance’s middle. “Bye, Dad!” 

“Oh! Bow, you’re going with your brother?” Lance looked from him to Dirk in confusion. 

“Yeah. Dirk’s letting me come watch.” Bow smiled his sweetest, most innocent smile at his dad and then turned to Dirk, who was just staring at him. Which wasn’t surprising, since Dirk had not agreed to any such thing. In fact, Dirk had pretty much been avoiding Bow entirely since their incident at the market all those weeks ago, even though Bow had done everything his brother had told him to do and hadn’t said a word about any of it to anyone. 

It was actually the market thing that had done it. Watching his brother lie so easily about their adventure made him realize… that wasn’t the only thing Dirk was lying about.

“Well, that’s wonderful! And here I was afraid you two were on the outs! What a marvelous opportunity for little Bow to get some field experience and some extra time with his big brother. Great idea, Dirk!”

“Now hold on, I never—” Dirk began, but Bow was ready for this. He had the journal out of his bag in half a second, his cheerful grin never wavering from his face. 

“Don’t worry, Dad, I brought my schoolwork to do while I’m there and, if I get bored, some books to read.” He held up the thick green book as if he were showing it to Lance but making sure Dirk saw it too. He knew his brother had when he gasped. 

“How… Where…” Dirk stammered. He grabbed for his bag, feeling for the book that was no longer there and Bow just turned to him with that same innocent smile on his face. 

“Marvelous! I don’t recognize that book. Is it from our collection?” Lance reached for it.

“No!” Both Bow and Dirk said at the same time, Bow pulling the book out of his dad’s reach. Lance looked between the two of them, his eyes narrowing. 

Dirk exhaled. “It’s nothing interesting. Just one I lent him. Which he really ought to give back to me.” 

“Not yet. I’m not done with it.” If his dad wasn’t watching, Bow would have stuck his tongue out. 

“Well, it’s a delightful idea and I am glad you boys are going to have a little bonding time but—” The music ended abruptly on a discordant note and there was a terrifying roar from the upstairs window.

“That’s IT! You brats are going to DIE!” Kay screamed as Dags and Boomer tore out the front door giggling and, with a conspiratorial nod to each other, took off into the woods in different directions. A door slammed somewhere and something smashed upstairs.

“Keep it down, Kay! I’m trying to read!” 

“Oh, you wanna start with me too?” 

There was a loud thud and what sounded like Jav screaming as George appeared in the doorway, with Trebber slung under his arm like he was a struggling stack of firework. He gave Lance a pointed look, the vein in his neck looking half a second from bursting. “Little help?” 

“Oh, yes. Of course. Be right there.” Lance nodded and George ducked back into the house, slamming the door behind him. “Just promise me you two will be careful. And smart?” 

“I promise!” Bow said cheerfully. This had actually worked out a lot better than he’d planned. Assuming he actually survived the next few minutes, that is. 

“OK, well, you two have fun and we’ll… we’ll talk about it tonight when you get back.” Lance gave them a quick nod and then, after a moment’s hesitation, took off into the woods after Dags. 

Bow waved in the general direction of the house and then walked in what he hoped looked like a brisk, excited type of kid walk and not what it really was which was him trying to put as much distance between him and Dirk as humanly possible before they were out of sight of the house. Every one of Dirk’s steps was like three or four of his, so if it came to an all out footrace, he was a goner. 

Bow knew they were out of sight from the house without looking back because he suddenly heard his brother’s footsteps pick up behind him and Dirk mutter, “OK, give it back, you little punk!” 

He didn’t bother to answer, but started sprinting outright. If he could just reach that hole before Dirk caught up… There!

He veered off the path, diving into the narrow gap between two trees. He hadn’t had his bag the other day when he’d practiced this and he nearly got stuck, but at the last minute he yanked it through after him, just as Dirk reached the tree. He saw his brother on the other side of the hole, glaring, and allowed himself half a second of triumph before he kept running. Dirk wasn’t anywhere near as short or skinny as Bow was, so he couldn’t get in that way. Of course, it would only take him a few extra minutes to go around the stream, but that was all Bow needed. 

It was about three minutes later when he heard his brother’s heavy footsteps crunching through the forest floor while Bow braced himself at the top of the tree, trying to catch his breath. Dirk spotted him almost immediately, and this whole thing stopped being excited and move directly to scary when he saw the look on his brother’s face. He couldn’t remember EVER seeing Dirk this mad. 

“You’ve got to the count of three to toss it down or I come up there and get it.”

“You can’t come up here! You’re too big!” He wasn’t taunting him. It was just a fact. He’d specifically picked this tree because it was thin enough to support him, but not enough to support someone as big as Dirk. Sure enough, Dirk tried to hoist himself up, once, twice, and the branch gave each time. 

Dirk swore, one Bow had never even heard before, which with that many siblings was impressive. He grabbed the bottom of the tree and shook it. Oh, shoot. Bow hadn’t thought about that. His foot slipped, and he nearly lost his hold on the branch. 

“Stop it or… I’ll throw it in the stream!” He pulled the book out and held it out and over the stream like he was going to drop it. He wouldn’t really because you can’t grow up in a library and be like that about books, but he’d run out of plans. Luckily, his brother bought his bluff. 

“Alright! Alright. I’m not touching the tree, see?” Dirk stepped backwards, his hands in the air, like he was admitting defeat. “You know, you’re supposed to be the good one. I can’t believe you actually used to be my favorite little brother.” 

“Wait, was I really?” He lowered the book. “Because you haven’t let me come with your or even talked to me in weeks, even though I didn’t say anything about what happened, just like you said!” Bow didn’t want to cry, especially not now, but he didn’t realize until the words were out of his mouth how hurt he’d been by being shut out. It wasn’t just that he missed getting to leave the house. Dirk had been the only one of the older kids who’d even paid him any attention and then, when it seemed like they were going to hang out more often, he stopped talking to him entirely. Just like everyone else. 

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry about that.” Dirk rubbed the back of his neck. “Thing about lies is they’re a hell of a lot easier to keep straight when you’re the only one doing them and I thought, the more we talked the more likely… but I should have had faith in you, kiddo, and I’m sorry. There. So can I have my book back now?”

“No.” Bow sniffed and tried to be really subtle about wiping his nose on his sleeve. “I know what you’re doing.”

“You’re SEVEN! You don’t know anything.” But Dirk looked nervous. 

Bow shook his head. He tried to keep his voice from shaking, but he still felt a lot like crying. “Our dads think you’re working at some excavation site every day, but it’s all made up. You’re just telling them stuff from this old book.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Bow opened to the page he’d bookmarked. “Last week, at dinner, you told everybody about finding a nest of baby spitters in the rocks. And you said the one had…” He started reading from the old notebook, the paper yellowed and writing cramped but still readable. “’A pattern on its back like dinner fork that’d been caught in a grinder.’ And then there was the thing about how the shadows looked like spilled ink the deeper underground you got. That’s in here too.” He shut the book. “You don’t talk like that. That’s how I knew.” He sniffed, trying to sound as triumphant as he’d pictured himself being as he revealed this. “You found somebody else’s old notes, years and years of notes, and you’re using them to pretend you’re out digging for artifacts every day.” 

Dirk blinked at him for several long moments and then closed his eyes and swore again. He exhaled and glared at Bow. “You’re too smart for your own good, you know that? So what is this, blackmail? I don’t give you what you want, you tell on me, ruin my life? Because you know I can’t let you do that.”

Bow didn’t want to ruin his brother’s life, and he wasn’t really sure what black mail. He took a deep breath and held himself as tall as he could considering he was awkwardly wedged in a tree branch. “You’re doing something else all day, something you don’t want the rest of the family to know about. And I want to come with you.”

“You’re kidding, right? You really think I want to babysit—”

“I am NOT a baby!” 

“Well, then, stop acting like one! I’ve got… stuff to do during the day and that doesn’t involve having to entertain my little brother!” 

“You don’t have to entertain me! I’ve got my own stuff to do!” He unzipped his bag and pulled out a handful of the random metal scraps and wires he’d been collecting. He debated pulling out some of the half-finished projects he had in his bag, but he was pretty sure Dirk wouldn’t care about them any more than the rest of them did. He was still smarting from the last time he’d tried to work on something downstairs, and George has asked him to clean up all that “junk.” Now he just kept it all hidden under his bed, but there wasn’t enough room to work in there, not properly. 

“You’re not building bombs or anything with all that, are you?” Dirk looked concerned. 

“No! I’m not doing anything wrong! I’m just… playing around.” Which was true. He hadn’t really figured out exactly what he wanted to do with all these ideas yet, just that he couldn’t stop thinking about the gizmos he’d see at that little stand at the market and wanted to know if he could make one himself. “But… our dads don’t want me to do it, and so I thought if you’re already sneaking out, I could come with you, and work on my stuff while you do… whatever you’re doing. What ARE you doing, anyway?”

“None of your business! Besides, aren’t you supposed to be learning how to rebind a book or memorizing the cataloging system like Lance is always on your case about. Not fiddling around with wires and junk.” 

Bow groaned. “I don’t want to do that. It’s so boring! It’s just like everything else! You all got to pick what you wanted to study, what instrument you play, what you get to do with your life, and I got whatever was left! And I HATE it!”

“So what do you want to do?”

Bow opened his mouth and closed it again. He pretended to be really interested in zipping up his bag so he wouldn’t have to look at his brother. “I don’t know. Not that.”

“Well, what are you telling me for? Tell it to the pops!”

“I’ve tried! They don’t listen.”

For a minute Dirk stared at him, his arms crossed, like he was still really mad. Then he exhaled and leaned back against a tree, his eyes on the ground. “No. They really don’t.”

Bow watched his brother, not really sure what was happening. Dirk rubbed his face and watched the stream go by for a long moment. Then he stood upright again and held out a hand to him. 

“Alright, come on down here.”

Bow hesitated, not sure if it was a trap.

“I’m not going to attack you or anything, but I really gotta get going or I’m going to be late. You’ve got your deal. For today only, trial run. Things go OK, well, we’ll see. You can even keep the book in your bag till we get there if it makes you feel better, but we gotta start walking now.”

Bow slid down the tree, never taking his eyes off Dirk. He kept his distance, his hand on his bag, ready to run, though Dirk didn’t even try to come near. “You’re going to let me come?”

“Yeah, I am, so don’t make me regret it.” Dirk started walking and Bow watched him a moment before following. 

“Where are we going?” Bow asked as they got back on the path. 

Dirk shook his head, and the side of his mouth crooked up. “You’ll see.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want a referesher on the names of all Bow's siblings, we covered them [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262151/chapters/63929224). But feel free to send me asks about them if you want more info because I have worked out way more about them than we'll probably see in this.

**Author's Note:**

> I am so proud of this whole fic and I really hope everyone enjoys it! 
> 
> Comments give me life even if they are completely incoherent or really short so, please please, let me know what you think!
> 
> Visit my Tumblr for asks, fic updates and misc thoughts. [https://tippenfunkaport.tumblr.com](https://tippenfunkaport.tumblr.com/)


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